


Green Eyed Monster

by Gaffsie



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Clueless Sweet Pea, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Humor, Jealousy, M/M, Pining, clueless jughead
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-21
Updated: 2019-04-21
Packaged: 2020-01-23 14:01:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18551236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gaffsie/pseuds/Gaffsie
Summary: Sweet Pea doesn't trust the new guy.





	Green Eyed Monster

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [this](https://riverdale-kinkmeme.dreamwidth.org/1356.html?thread=618316#cmt618316) kinkmeme prompt.

Everyone keeps telling him that Will is “such a great guy, Sweet Pea, just give him a chance,” and Sweet Pea thinks they're all high on Fizzle Rocks, because Will is not “great.” Will is terrible, with his phony smile and shifty eyes and overly sculpted muscles and frankly terrible jokes.

Jughead wrinkles his nose when Sweet Pea brings up the muscles thing, scrunching his eyebrows together in confusion and telling him that Will's muscles look the same as Archie's or Reggie's or Fangs' or Kevin's or- and that's where Sweet Pea tells him to shut up, because otherwise he'd just keep listing their classmates, and it's starting to piss him off.

“Not like mine?” Sweet Pea asks, already regretting the words the second they leave his mouth, and then Jughead goes bright red and can't meet his eyes all of a sudden.

“You look sturdier,” Jughead mumbles, and then he somehow goes even _redder_ , and stammers something about Sweet Pea catching Fangs when he was thrown from the second floor. It does make Sweet Pea feel better, even if he feels compelled to defend Fangs. He's his bro, after all, and he's sure his six pack is better than Will's.

Fangs isn't any more sympathetic when Sweet Pea complains about Will distracting Jughead from important Serpent business with his dumb jokes and terrible taste in movies.

“Jughead literally spent the whole night helping FP track down tainted batches of _Fizzle Rocks_. And he still helped you with your History essay. If he wants to go watch the Tarantino retrospective at the Bijou with Will, he's allowed to.”

“You've become a lot less fun since you hooked up with Keller,” Sweet Pea complains, but Fangs just smiles at him, wide and earnest.

“Love will find you too, Sweet Pea,” he says and pats Sweet Pea's hand, which leaves Sweet Pea no other choice than to punch him in the shoulder.

When he pulls Toni aside during study hall to share his concerns about Will trying to destroy the Serpents by getting an in with their King, she just sighs and tells him that he should give Will a chance.

“The poor guy just moved here with his family,” she says. “His first day here he witnessed a cheerleader bash her head bloody against the lockers. On his way home, he was accosted by the Farmies _and_ the Gargoyles. The poor kid's from Detroit! He's not equipped to handle Riverdale!”

She grabs his shoulders. “He needs a friend, Sweet Pea. And if that friend is Jughead, then what's the problem? It's not like you want to do nerd shit with him anyway.”

Then she sashays away, the _Pretty Poisons_ logo on her jacket taunting him with each swaying step.

He still doesn't trust Will though. There's something inherently shifty about the guy.

When he just happens to show up at Pop's during one of their informal Serpent hang-outs, Sweet Pea just knows it's due to foul play of some sort.

Tonight it's just him, Jughead, Fangs, Old Deuteronomy and Jinx crammed together in a booth. Kevin's there too, but he's not a Serpent, so he doesn't really count.

They never talk about Serpent business during their Pop's hang-outs, but Sweet Pea still feels a bit betrayed that Fangs brought his boyfriend along. The worst part is that if he brought it up, Fangs would just smile serenely at him again.

Old Deuteronomy and Jughead are talking about photography. Old Deuteronomy's foodie blog is really taking off, and he's asking Jughead about composition advice.

“I mostly do crime scenes,” Jughead says, shrugging a little,“but you still can't go wrong with a solid dutch angle from time to time.”

A shadow falls over the booth.

“Hey guys,” Will says, shifting a little awkwardly on his feet. Sweet Pea rolls his eyes.

“Okay if I join you? I don't really know anyone else here.” It's an obvious lie, because Sweet Pea can see Toni and her gang of girly thugs by the counter, and Sweet Pea knows for a fact that they're in Home Ec together.

“Sorry, booth's full,” Sweet Pea says, taking a bite from his cheeseburger.

Jughead gives Will a small smile, completely clueless to the evil aura surrounding him. He scoots closer to Jinx and pats the padded bench.

“If you don't mind being crowded, you can sit here,” he offers.

Will gives him a relieved smile, perfectly straight teeth glinting in the neon light, and Sweet Pea hates him, more than he's ever hated another human being, except possibly Tall Boy, Penny Peabody, Gladys Jones, Hiram Lodge and that greasy little fucker Kurtz.

He definitely hates him more than Archie Andrews.

Will takes his seat next to Jughead, so close to him that their shoulders are brushing, and Sweet Pea squeezes his cheeseburger so hard that the beef patty falls out. It makes a sad 'splat' as it hits the table.

Jughead wordlessly hands him a napkin.

“I'm glad I ran into you,” Will tells Jughead, leaning even closer to him. Sweet Pea crumples up the napkin and considers throwing it at him.

“I had a great time the other day,” Will says, “and I was wondering if you'd like to hang out this weekend. I've got the Kurosawa collection on Blu-ray, and-”

Jughead actually looks like he's considering it, and Sweet Pea _snaps_.

“He can't,” he says before Jughead has a chance to answer. “Serpent business.”

“What Serpent business?” Jughead and Jinx ask at the same time.

“Gargoyole shit,” Sweet Pea shrugs. It seems like a good bet. The Gargoyles are always starting shit, and Jughead is always down for wrecking their shit.

“Pretty sure they're laying low right now,” Jughead says, and then he glances over at Will. “Also, Sweets, ix-nay on the usiness-bay in front of company.”

“I can't believe you're a gang leader,” Kevin pipes up, sounding wondering, and Sweet Pea is inclined to agree.

Will also looks surprised at that revelation, and Sweet Pea has to admit the kid's a good actor.

“He's our leader,” Sweet Pea says, “and we look after what's ours.” With that he gathers the sad remains of his burgers and gets out of the booth, knowing that Will's gonna take it as the threat it is.

He throws the remains of his meal in the trash, and then he ambles up to the counter. Pop smiles genially at him and asks if he wants another burger, but Sweet Pea shakes his head. 

“Just a shake, thanks,” he says. “Vanilla.”

Pop nods like it's obvious, and maybe it is to him. It's rumored he's got some kind of mystical milk shake powers. Sweet Pea doesn't really want to know what those powers entail, but apparently it means always knowing what flavor milkshake his customers want.

When he returns to the table Will's got his hand on Jughead's shoulder, and Jughead's _laughing_. The last time Sweet Pea saw Jughead laugh was when he was high off his gourd on pain meds.

It is supremely unfair that _Will_ is the one who gets to make him throw his head back as he guffaws, those large front teeth he's secretly self-conscious about showing. Sweet Pea's told him lots of great jokes, but all he's gotten for his troubles are close-mouthed smiles.

Before he's even aware what he's doing, his free hand is reaching for his switch-blade.

“Dude,” Fangs says, looking at him with concern, and Sweet Pea snaps out of the weird spell he's under. He wasn't going to stab Will, he tells himself. At least not much.

Suddenly Toni's by his side, her long nails digging painfully into his biceps.

“Can I talk with you for a second?” she practically hisses at him.

The others look at them in concern. Jughead tries to communicate something with his eyebrows, but Sweet Pea shakes his head, puts down his milkshake on the table and lets Toni drag him away.

Toni drags him to one of the toilets, locking the door behind them. For one hopeful second Sweet Pea thinks that she's gonna finish what she started in the auditorium during their _Heathers_ rehearsals, but then Toni takes a step closer to him, eyes locked on his, and opens her mouth, and his hopes are dashed.

“Sweet Pea,” Toni says, looking at him with a strange expression on her face, “are you _jealous_?”

Sweet Pea scoffs, because, _what_?

“No,” he says. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

Toni raises an eyebrow at him meaningfully.

“Just now. Being a dick to Will, pretending that you had super-secret Serpent business with Jughead and trying to drag him away?”

“I could have Serpent business with him. You're not a serpent any more, you wouldn't know.” He sounds petulant even to his own ears.

Toni flinches a little, hardly noticeable if not for the fact that Sweet Pea _knows_ her, and he puts a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“Toni-,” he begins, but Toni interrupts him, shrugs his hand off.

“This isn't about me,” she insists. “This is about you and your big gay crush on Jughead.”

“Are you high on Fizzle Rocks?” he exclaims. “I do not have a crush on _Jughead_.” He can tell by the sceptical look on her face that she doesn't believe him, so he adds, a little surly, “he's not even that good looking.”

Toni still doesn't look convinced.

“Fangs is much hotter,” he says, and Toni nods, like it's obvious.

“Fangs is an angel,” she agrees, “but he was making out with the Keller kid like five feet away from you and you didn't even raise an eyebrow. Meanwhile, Jughead laughed at Will's dumb joke, and you looked like you were seconds away from stabbing him.”

“It was a shitty joke.”

“You're friends with _Fangs_ ,” she stresses. “His jokes are much worse.”

“Yeah, but Jughead doesn't laugh at Fangs' jokes,” he shoots back, and he can tell by the gleam in her eyes that it was the wrong thing to say.

“ _Exactly_ ,” she says, tossing her hair over her shoulder with a self-satisfied smirk on her glossy lips.

Sweet Pea crosses his arms over his chest, and gives Toni his best scowl. Sadly, she is unmoved. 

She reaches out and puts her well-manicured hand on his bicep, giving him a comforting squeeze. Her nail-polish is a deep purple today, Sweet Pea notes. 

“Look, Sweet Pea. I understand. I've been there, remember. He looks at you with his sad puppy-dog eyes, and his stupid 90s hair curls over his forehead in a way that seems designed to make you want to reach out and touch it, and then, before you know it, you're giving him a hand-job on FP Jones' couch. “

To his horror, Sweet Pea realizes he's clenching his hands into fists. Toni notices too.

“It's okay,” she says, patting his arm. “This is a judgement free zone.”

“Oh god,” Sweet Pea says. “I am jealous.” It seems so obvious now. The way he can't stand it when Jughead laughs his dorky big-toothed laugh at other people's jokes, the way he almost punched Will in the face when he put his hand on Jughead's shoulder. He _likes_ him.

“I can't believe I like him,” he complains. “He wears a beanie in July. Who does that?! And he never wears a jean vest, even though we told him we always wear jean vests on Wednesdays. Fangs even offered to sew on the emblem for him.”

“I know,” Toni says, and after a beat, “there, there, let it all out.”

Sweet Pea does not let it all out. But he nods stiffly at Toni, who nods back.

“Good talk,” he says.

“Go get your nerdy white guy,” Toni says, tossing her head in the direction of the door. “Before Will does.”

Nobody's ever called Sweet Pea a coward and lived to tell the tale, so he squares his shoulders and walks back to their booth. Everyone are exactly where he and Toni left them. Keller and Fangs are making goo-goo eyes at each other over a shared vanilla milkshake, Old Deuteronomy and Jinx are Instagramming their cheeseburgers, and Jughead and Will are talking animatedly about movies. 

Jughead almost looks happy, gesturing with his french fry while he talks and smiling crookedly whenever Will says something funny. Sweet Pea watches him for a couple of seconds, trying to make sense of his feelings. 

He isn't as attractive as Fangs, but Fangs is, as Toni pointed out, an angel, so that comparison is unfair. 

On his own terms he is kind of pretty. Generous-looking mouth, straight nose, blue-ish eyes framed by long eyelashes. That stupid hair that does make Sweet Pea want to reach out and touch, dammit,-

… Okay, so maybe Sweet Pea is kind of into him.

Will's clearly into him too. He's leaning close to him, arm thrown over the back of the booth so it almost brushes Jughead's shoulder, but Sweet Pea doesn't think Jughead feels the same way. He's just happy he's found a nerdy buddy.

“Jughead,” he calls out, and Jughead looks up at him, a bit confused, but attentive, a french fry still dangling from his long fingers.

He's feeling a bit uncertain, but then Will glares at him, and Sweet Pea makes up his mind, because _fuck_ that guy. If Jughead's gonna take a walk on the gay side, it's going to be with _him_.

Jughead has a lazy half-smile on his face, one eyebrow raised as in question, and Sweet Pea knows he's got one shot at this.

He can see Toni lurking behind him in his peripheral vision, but he decides to ignore her.

He stalks over to the booth until he's standing so close that Jughead has to crane his neck to meet his eyes. 

“What's up?” he asks. “Everything okay with you and Toni?”

“Yeah,” Sweet Pea says, feeling pleased that Jughead cares enough about them to ask.

“I was actually gonna ask you something,” he adds, and Jughead takes a bite of his french fry, nodding at him, _go on_.

Too late, Sweet Pea realizes this isn't the optimal setting for an intimate conversation. Will is still glaring at him, and Jinx and Old Deuteronomy are hanging onto his every word. Even Kevin and Fangs are paying attention now. Toni is getting back to her own seat, shooting him a look like he's hilarious.

“In private,” he adds, shooting a significant look at the people around the table.

“Okay,” Jughead says, surprised but game. He slides out from his seat, patting Will's shoulder as he goes.

“Where do you want me?” he asks Sweet Pea.

 _Everywhere_ , Sweet Pea thinks, but he just nods his head towards the back. Jughead shrugs, and follows him without complaint. They've been through enough to be past any alpha posturing at this point.

The bathroom's still unoccupied, so Sweet Pea ushers Jughead inside. He locks the door behind them for good measure. 

… Not that he thinks that they're about to do anything that warrants a locked door, but a man can dream, can't he?

Jughead leans up against the sink, arms crossed casually over his chest and smirking easily at Sweet Pea. Relaxed, worry-free.

“Okay, what was so important that you had to drag me away from my fries for?”

The plan was to tell Jughead that he's into him, and maybe ask him if he wants to come over, but Sweet Pea's always been better at actions than words, and he doubts he's gonna get a chance like this again. 

“Don't freak out,” he says, getting right up in Jughead's face. He puts his hands on his shoulders and then he leans down. He has time to think that he's never been this close to Jughead before; close enough to count each individual freckle on his nose if he wanted to; close enough to notice all the different hues in his irises, and then he's too close to see much of anything. 

Jughead gives a small gasp against his mouth, a puff of air escaping in surprise, and then their lips meet, Jughead pliable and soft beneath him. 

It's a brief and chaste kiss, all things considered, but it's still _everything_.

When Sweet Pea takes a step back, Jughead's smile is one he's never seen directed at himself before; soft and sweet and smitten.

“This was a lot better than the last time someone told me not to freak out before kissing me,” Jughead says, and there's a story there, but not one Sweet Pea wants to hear right now.

Outside, their friends are waiting. Outside, there are still the Gargoyles and their ever-growing drug cartel to contend with, but right now, in this diner bathroom, there's just the two of them, and Sweet Pea isn't going to waste this opportunity on _talking_.


End file.
